


Soul searching, and other sources of godliness.

by Hawke



Category: Divinity Original Sin 2
Genre: Gen, Godwoken ascension ritual, Small related one-shot-y but connected stories, Spiders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-07 14:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12234939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawke/pseuds/Hawke
Summary: Sebille, The Red Prince, and Lohse really had no wish for divinity, so they swore to ensure that Ifan would achieve that goal. First step: Godwoken Ascension Ritual. Turns out that the ritual can take a lot out of you. Especially when you don't speak to a source master, and just break into her basement instead.(Also, other events! Including spiders!)





	1. Books are sufficient for instructions

The instructions were clear. 

Lohse walked over to the cabinet and fetched the ingredients. 

"So. Who wants to slice themselves open to get the blood?" She asked jokingly. 

Ifan responded quickly. "I am doing the ritual. Only makes sense I should sacrifice my own blood."

Lohse nodded and handed the lancet over. "Suit yourself chief."

Ifan took the blade and rolled up his sleeves, revealing a network of scars along his arm. With the most delicate of touches, he drew it over the meat of his forearm. Blood welled up from the wound, but was quickly sucked away by the obsidian. 

Ifan carefully placed the lancet into the bowl, and Sebille added the blackroot. 

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The red prince asked, watching from the stairs. 

Ifan walked over to the incinerator. He placed the bowl on the grate, and moved back to the valve. "Not really. But I have little choice. Wish me luck."

He flicked the valve for a moment, and the mixture vaporised. Ifan immediately moved forward to inhale the smoke. Sebille, Lohse and the Red Prince all watched, curious. For a moment, it seemed nothing had happened. Ifan let out a shaken breath and drew another one in, more smoke flowing into his lungs. 

Lohse stepped forward. "Is it work-"

She was cut off as Ifan abruptly began to sway on the spot. His head half lolled forward before he seemed to catch himself. They heard him moan slightly, before he stumbled to the side, bumping into the wall of the incinerator. 

Lohse ran the rest of the way forward, and caught Ifan just as he began to fall to the ground. She carefully lowered his limp body until he was propped up against the wall. 

Sebille and the Red Prince followed her over. 

"Is this what is supposed to happen?" Asked the Red Prince. 

Before any of them could reply, Ifan trembled all over, and muttered something incoherent. 

Lohse glanced up at the others. "I don't know. We should have found that Meistr. She would have known. The damn book doesn't say anything helpful."

They watched worriedly as Ifan's eyes flickered open to reveal rolled up whites. His head jerked around, as if searching for something. 

"Lucian? Rhalic?" He called out, as if expecting the god or the divine to materialise if he asked. 

He continued to twitch, seeking something or someone. 

After almost ten minutes of Ifan muttering and writhing, with everyone too terrified to do anything but watch, the blue light of source filled his eyes. 

Ifan tuned and looked towards Sebille and the Red Prince.

"Why did you risk such a thing? If you were aware of the dangers?"

The Red Prince shifted uneasily. "Ifan?"

"Everyone is special. You were special. You didn't need some stupid ritual to tell you that." Ifan continued to speak as if he hadn't heard the interruption. 

"It's as if he's having a conversation with someone?" Sebille wondered aloud. 

"Aye. It is too late now." The light faded from Ifan's eyes and he seemed to realise he wasn't alone. 

"Uhhh. The ritual worked I guess." He tried to stand up, but his legs gave out before he could. "I saw Rhalic. And he gave me the ability to see spirits."

Sebille laughed. "And here I'd thought you'd just gone crazy!" She paused for a moment. "Sorry Lohse."

Ifan absently rubbed at his head. "Arg. 've gotta killer headache though." He slurred. 

"We can camp here." The Red Prince declared, and he pulled the bedrolls out of his bag. 

"Mmm." Ifan replied, absently staring at the wall in front of him. 

Sebille and the Red Prince laid out the bed rolls, and Lohse tried to get Ifan to drink some water. 

"Hey chief." She said, pressing the waterskin into his hand. 

"Mmm." He muttered in response. His hand twitched around the waterskin, but didn't move to drink from it. 

"Come on almighty godwoken, you need to drink something."

This time there was no response. Lohse turned so that she could see his face fully, and noticed that even within the well lit room, Ifan's pupils were blown wide open, while his face was a sickly shade of ashen grey. 

She carefully pushed a restoration spell into him, and his eyes fluttered shut. Testing him with her hydrophist magic, all she could determine was that he was immensely tired, and currently asleep. 

With Sebille and the Red Prince's help, she carefully moved him to his bedroll. She hoped this was just a minor side effect of the ritual, and that he would wake up fine in the morning.


	2. Spiders! Why does it always have to be spiders?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ifan commented that he is scared of spiders and heights, but doesn't let those fears get to him. Well. Spiders.

The compulsive need to explore every building, cave, farm or patch of grass that they came across was something that brought Ifan, Lohse, Sebille and the Red Prince together. 

After speaking to Ryker about the tablet, they walked into the foyer and Sebille glanced at the stairs. 

"Shall we?" She asked. 

Ifan chuckled. "Of course."

Before they could climb the stairs, a ghostly painting warned of a terrible death that would await them should they choose to ascend. 

"Well, it's not like we've ever let death threats stop us before!" Lohse remarked, and she pushed past Sebille to climb the stairs. 

When they reached the top, Lohse and the Red Prince began to search the area for anything the group could use, while Sebille worked on the doors with Ifan's "assistance". 

"You know, I could get this done quicker if you didn't breathe down my neck." She muttered, twisting the lockpick to try and knock the tumbler. 

"Hmm. You'd probably get this done quicker if you used the wider pick." He replied. 

Sebille glanced up at Ifan, then down at her picks, then at the lock, before finally sighing and changing to the other lockpick. She refused to admit it, but the second pick was certainly easier. 

"Got it!" She called out, and Lohse and the Red Prince joined them at the door as it swung open. 

"What is that?" The Red Prince asked, looking at the white nets that coated the walls of the room. 

"I dunno. You should go check!" Lohse tried to push the Prince into the room, but misjudged his weight and her strength, so he only stumbled a step into the doorway. 

He turned around in a huff. "That is not how you treat royalty! I will not be manhandled." Placing his hand on his greatsword, the Prince nonetheless carefully entered the room. After a moment, the others cautiously followed him in. Sebille drew her daggers and took up position to the Prince's left flank, while Lohse readied her wands beside Ifan and his crossbow. 

"Are those... eggs?" Lohse had barely voiced her thoughts when one of the eggs cracked open and a spider leapt out towards them. 

Before she could even bring up her wands to defend herself, the Ifan jerked his crossbow up and took the creature down with a well placed bolt. 

The spider was ridiculously big, about the size of a small dog, and was leaking green fluid from the hole through the centre of its form. 

"There's eggs everywhere. We need to destroy them." Sebille said, standing next to another pile across the room. 

The Red Prince opened his mouth and carefully set the eggs on fire without burning the walls behind them, while Lohse used her pyrokinetics to shoot fire daggers at the other ones. Ifan slowly walked into the other half of the room, a pyro arrow at the ready, searching for more eggs, and thus was taken completely by surprise when a massive spider three times his size fell from the ceiling and knocked him to the ground. As he fell, his crossbow fell out of his hands and skittered away towards the wall, while the spider sunk its fangs into his shoulder. 

Lohse cursed the fact that she couldn't summon the daggers again for another few moments, and was desperately searching her mind for a spell that would remove the spider without hitting Ifan, when Sebille shadow jumped onto the creatures back and pulverised its head with her daggers. 

The Prince quickly ran forward and rolled the creature off Ifan, and Lohse grabbed his crossbow and followed over. 

"Are you okay?" She asked. 

Ifan grabbed his crossbow with shaking hands and sat up. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Let's just get away from these stupid creatures." 

Sebille nodded. "I agree. Spiders should not be that big."

The carefully left the house, deciding that whatever was in the rest of the rooms could wait until the returned with Ryker's tablet. As the walked, Lohse adjusted her pace until she could have a semi-private conversation with Ifan, while Sebille and The Red Prince discussed the merits of dual wielding versus two handed weapons. 

"Are you okay?" She asked, glancing down as where Ifans hands continued to tremble. 

He glared up at her. "I'm fine." He responded shortly. 

"Are you-"

"I don't like spiders, okay!? And I don't like being unable to control my fear!"

Lohse flinched back at the sudden outburst. 

Ifan sighed, "Lohse, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I just, I don't like spiders. And usually I can work through it and get over it, but ... I just need some time to work this over in my mind and calm down, okay?"

Lohse smiled, "All good chief. You just tell me if you need anything."

The walked for another hour or so when the sun began the set and the Red Prince found a good spot to camp. 

Lohse set out the fire, while the Red Prince assembled the tent and bedrolls. 

Sebille walked over to where Ifan had sat himself against a boulder, absently poking at the mechanism on his crossbow. 

"Wanna go find some dinner?" She questioned. 

Ifan continued to fiddle around with his bow. "Nah. I feel like shit actually." He rasped, "might actually go turn in for the night once the tents up." 

Sebille nodded and went in search of game to supplement their diet of dry rations. 

Once the fire was laid out, the Red Prince lit it and Lohse glanced over to where Ifan was. 

"Chief! Hey chief!" She called out. He didn't respond, and continued looking down at his bow. Sighing, she walked over towards him and poked him in the shoulder. When he just rocked to the side slightly, she realised he had fallen asleep sitting there. Carefully taking his crossbow from him, she called over the Prince and between them they laid him in a bedroll. 

"That whole godwoken thing has been hard on him." Lohse commented. 

The Red Prince nodded. "I have spent my life with the expectations and responsibilities of my people resting on my shoulders, he has only been aware of the burdens of destiny upon his own shoulders for a few short days." 

When Sebille returned with a small rabbit, the three sat quietly around the fire while it cooked. They spoke mostly about inconsequential things. None wanted to focus too much on the horrors they faced within their current adventures. 

However, Lohse had traveled widely within Rivillion before her days as a captive sourcerer, and before she had gained her passenger, and coupled with her bardic oratory skills, she regaled Sebille and the Red Prince with wild stories. "There was this one show, some small tavern in some small town, and everyone was drinking and dancing, and the blacksmith turned around and started making out, with the tailors husband! I didn't realise who they were, so I just kept singing while everyone else stared!" The three of them laughed at the story, and they continued to chat until the rabbit was sufficiently roasted. 

"I'll go see if Ifan wants to eat." Lohse walked into the tent and shook Ifan's shoulder. "Hey chief. Food times."

When he didn't stir, she became worried. "Chief?" She rolled him over to look at his face, and was horrified to see his normal tanned skin was ashen and waxy. She quickly reached out with her magic and felt a terrible poison centred on his shoulder. 

"Help!" She cried out, as she began to pull as his armour to get to the wound, berating herself for not checking that stupid spider bite earlier. 

The Red Prince and Sebille came at her shout. 

"What's wrong?" Sebille asked. 

"Poison - spider. Prince, help with the armour." Lohse grunted out. 

The Red Prince helped rip the leather around the shoulder apart with his claws, revealing a massive green seeping wound. 

"Dammit" Lohse breathed, before placing her hands on his shoulder and pushing Restoration into the wound. 

As soon as her hands made contact with the bite, Ifan jerked away, crying out in pain. 

"Prince, hold him down. I need to get the poison out, and it's gonna hurt." 

Sebille abruptly stood up. "I'll make sure nothing takes us by surprise." She walked outside to stand watch, bracing herself for the screaming that would come back once Lohse started healing again. 

Lohse placed her hands back on the wound, and slowly began to coax the poison out. Ifan began to scream, and it his lungs must have been bottomless because it lasted for an eternity before he gasped for air. The moment of respite was short lived, and he began again. 

The Red Prince leaned his weight into the smaller human, as Ifan tried to get away from the cleansing, but painful, touch. The Prince focussed on the light blue glow around Lohse and the wound, and the receding green tinge to Ifan's skin, to distract from the agonised screams. 

Lohse focussed on the task at hand, and ignored the tears as she heard him suffer through the pain. It felt like forever, but it was only a few minutes later when the poison had all been drained and Lohse switched to healing the wound. Ifan's cries died down, until he was only letting out a small moan with every stuttered breath. 

Outside, Sebille was relieved to hear the screaming stop. She knew that Lohse was helping him, but it was difficult to remember that it was healing, and not torture, being conducted within the tent. 

Lohse finally removed her hands from Ifan's shoulder, and sat back on her heels. 

"Dammit. I'm such an idiot. This is all my fault." 

The Prince scoffed. "Did you control that spider?"

She shook her head at the rhetorical question. "No, but I didn't check him for wounds afterwords. I saw it bite him, and I didn't check him."

"He can take care of himself," the Prince assured, "he knows first aid, he should have either healed himself or asked for help. Instead he suffered in silence."

She sighed. "He was injured. He wasn't in his right mind -"

"The past can't be changed Lohse," Sebille interjected from the tent opening, "learn from what you did, and change your behaviour for next time."

"Yeah, I guess." 

The Red Prince turned in for the night, and Sebille took first watch, but Lohse couldn't bring herself to leave Ifan's side. 

Suddenly, she was shaken awake by Sebille, and she realised she had fallen asleep next to Ifan. 

"Your watch. I gave it an extra hour to cover Ifan not being up for it tonight." Sebille whispered, before heading to her own bedroll. 

As much as Lohse didn't want to leave Ifan, she walked outside and took her spot. Later, when she woke the Prince and he left the tent, she dragged her own bedroom over so I was next to Ifan's, and fell asleep to the rhythmic sounds of his breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> I got frustrated at the lack of fics for dos2, so I made my own. Might continue this. Might not.


End file.
